1. GENERAL TOPICS

Q: Where can I find the Official Telegraph Road Homepage?

A: Tomas Molin (list-owner) has created a Telegraph Road Homepage. With all the facts and information about the mailinglist. You can find it on: http://www.knopfler.net/telegraph-road.html

Q: Are there any new tour/album plans by Mark Knopfler and / or Dire Straits?

A: At this moment (01-1999) there are no plans for a Dire Straits or Mark Knopfler tour.

Mark will do another solo-album. Recording sessions for that album began in spring 1997, and the album is due for summer of 1999 (might change). And maybe followed by a tour. A 'new' Dire Straits compilation album was released this autumn called "Sultans of Swing". Check, for the latest news, Neck and Neck, the Mark Knopfler Homepage.

Q: Does Dire Straits still exist?

A: Ed Bicknell writes (06.06.97): "Dire Straits effectively 'ceased' when their final tour came to an end in October of '92." Conclusion: Dire Straits are no longer in existence.

Q: Are there any Dire Straits fanzines I can subscribe to?

A:

In Spain: ROCKAWAY
Apartado de Correos 35105
08080 Barcelona (Spain)

In Italy: SOLID ROCK
Giancarlo Passarella
P.O.BOX 2083
50100 Firenze - Florence ITALY

www: http://www.hesp.it/fanzine
email: fanzi@hesp.it

Q: Does Telegraph Road exist in reality?

A: Telegraph Road (or Michigan Route 24) exists in Detroit and runs for about 35 miles north and south. It is on the far west of the Detroit city boundary, and the top half runs north to Pontiac, where the Pontiac Silverdome is. That's a large, covered, multi-purpose stadium where DS may have played.

Mark got the idea for the song while driving with the tour-bus on Telegraph Road, by wondering what that road was like when it began long ago. He was reading the book "The Growth of the Soil" by Knud Hamsun and put those two ideas together.

Q: What does the name "Dire Straits" mean?

A: A few years ago, this question was asked of Mark Knopfler. He said: "In the shit...." In fact it means a desperate situation, and it’s often related with financial problems.

At their first public gig, Mark, David, John and Pick appeared as "The Cafe Racers" because they didn’t yet have a name at that time. "Cafe Racers" was the name of Mark’s former band. After the first gig, a friend of Pick’s observed their financial situation, and said that they should call themselves "Dire Straits." So they did for their second gig.

Q: What’s Mark’s favourite music? Which music does he listen to?

A: "I listened to B. B. King's Live at the Regal when I was sixteen, and this was a discovery. I felt that a triangle was established in this recording between the guitar, the voice, and the audience. I'm not a conventional singer; I try to play guitar as if it is my best voice, as B. B. King does. Most of my favourite artists aren't technically perfect singers: Tom Waits, Ry Cooder, J. J. Cale... However, others have a great voice, like Eric Clapton, although they are not usually recognized as good singers. When I'm at home listening to music, I come back again and again to the same artists. I think Van Morrison's "Inarticulate Speech of the Heart" is fabulous." (from Time Magazine).

Also, in an 1988/89 interview Mark declared that he likes Crowded House and Hothouse Flowers, among the new bands, to listen to.

And, also according to Golden Heart and the Hillbillies work, Mark likes Nashville-style music and he admires the Irish folk music. In fact, these are the more ‘traditional’ styles.

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